A Physically Grounded Theory of Mind-Body Interaction

Charis Anastopoulos

L. Bass

Da Wei

The classical framework of causality faces a significant theoretical impasse. Cartesian dualism introduces a profound interaction problem regarding mind and matter, while traditional physical models struggle to accommodate the epistemic observer. Because linear causal chains fail to fully explain the dynamic act of observation, this paper proposes a fundamental reconceptualization of causal structure. By firmly grounding our approach in quantum entanglement theory, specifically utilizing the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) multi-body entanglement properties, we argue that causality inherently requires a strict triadic architecture. This triad comprises an Observer, an active Medium, and an Observed target. Quantum nonlocality suggests that fundamental causality extends beyond strict local interactions, a principle illustrated mathematically and ontologically by the GHZ state. Removing any single entity within this system collapses the coherent network, indicating that the medium serves as an active participant enforcing topological constraints rather than a passive background. Furthermore, this necessity for triadic structure scales universally across physical theory: special relativity's light-cone causality eliminates instantaneous two-body interaction, quantum field theory's interaction Lagrangian encodes all forces as three-point vertices, and gauge theory's local symmetry requirements necessitate intervening gauge fields. Ultimately, this framework provides a logically consistent and physically grounded perspective on the classical mind-matter interaction problem, framing causation as information flowing within an irreducible triadic network.

Syamala D. Hari

Following on the observation in Vedanta that mind is restless and faster than matter, we propose that memory and thought in the brain involve tachyons. Although experiments to detect faster-than-light particles have not been successful so far, recently, there has been renewed interest in tachyon theories in various branches of physics. We suggest that tachyon theory may be applicable to brain physics as well. As a first step, in an earlier work, it was shown that in the quantum mechanical model of exocytosis by Beck and Eccles, a zero energy tachyon can precisely do the task of an Eccles’s psychon and therefore that our proposal can mathematically model mind’s action on the brain. We see below that our proposal can mathematically describe how the brain acts on the mind as well. Assuming that the brain is a non-relativistic quantum system, and representing mind-brain interaction as tachyon interaction with ordinary matter, we see that the brain creates subjective experience in the form of tachyons if the mind made up of tachyons, pays attention to the brain while it receives sensory inputs.

M. P. Vaughan

The mind-body problem is reviewed in the context of a non-technical account of quantum information theory. The importance of clearly defining: `what is physical?' is highlighted, since only then can we give meaning to the concept `non-physical'. Physicality is defined in terms of interaction, which is in turn defined to be a correlated exchange of information. This is asserted to be the basis of any meaningful concept of epistemology. Hence, it is argued that a non-physical entity can not `know' anything about the world. Information transfer is then discussed in terms of quantum entanglement and an argument for our perception of time is presented. It is then contended that the notion of `mind' may be meaningfully discussed in the context of a quantum theoretic framework.

Henry Pierce Stapp